Vinoba Bhave

Vinoba Bhave



Date of Birth: September 11, 1895
Date of Death: November 15, 1982 (after refusing food and medicine few days earlier)
Nationality: Indian
Indian religious figure, founder of the Bhoodan Movement.
or land-gift movement, and subsequently traveled thousands of miles by foot, accepting donations of land for redistribution to the landless. By 1969 the Bhoodan had collected over 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) of land for redistribution.
Apostle of Nonviolence

Vinoba Bhave



Freedom struggle
He was associated with Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian independence movement. In 1932 he was sent to jail by the British colonial government because of his fight against British rule. There he gave a series of talks on the Gita, in his native language Marathi, to his fellow prisoners.

These highly inspiring talks were later published as the book "Talks on the Gita", and it has been translated to many languages both in India and elsewhere. Vinoba felt that the source of these talks was something above and he believed that its influence will endure even if his other works were forgotten.

In 1940 he was chosen by Gandhi to be the first Individual Satyagrahi (an Individual standing up for Truth instead of a collective action) against the British rule. Bhave also participated in the Quit India Movement

Vinoba Bhave



Quotes

A country should be defended not by arms, but by ethical behavior.
Vinoba Bhave

All revolutions are spiritual at the source. All my activities have the sole purpose of achieving a union of hearts.
Vinoba Bhave

Do not allow yourself to imagine that revolutionary thinking can be propagated by governmental power.
Vinoba Bhave

Human life is full of the play of samskaras - tendencies developed by repeated actions.
Vinoba Bhave

If a man achieves victory over this body, who in the world can exercise power over him? He who rules himself rules over the whole world.
Vinoba Bhave

If we could only snap the fetters of the body that bind the feet of the soul, we shall experience a great joy. Then we shall not be miserable because of the body's sufferings. We shall become free.
Vinoba Bhave

If we wish our nature to be free and joyous, we should bring our activities into same order.
Vinoba Bhave

In nonviolence you must go full steam ahead, if you want the good to come speedily you must go about it with vigor.
Vinoba Bhave

In the mind of man and in society which is its image, a great war rages between two attitudes, two ways of living, two sets of qualities.
Vinoba Bhave

In this world of chance and change and mutability, the fulfillment of any resolve depends on the will of the Lord.
Vinoba Bhave

Innumerable actions are going on through us all the time. If we started counting them, we should never come to an end.
Vinoba Bhave

It is a curious phenomena that God has made the hearts of the poor, rich and those of the rich, poor.
Vinoba Bhave

It is only when our life proceeds within bounds and in an accepted, disciplined way, that the mind can be free.
Vinoba Bhave

Many people mistakenly imagine that the spiritual life, and books like the Gita, are intended only for ascetics.
Vinoba Bhave

Peace is something mental and spiritual. If there be peace in our (personal) life, it will affect the whole world.
Vinoba Bhave

The main reason why we look constantly to the Gita is that, whenever we need help, we may get it from the Gita. And, indeed, we always do get it.
Vinoba Bhave

The method of realizing these principles was also taught; this technique is the renunciation of the fruits of action.
Vinoba Bhave

The natural movement of one's soul is upwards. But just as any object is dragged down when a heavy weight is tied to it, the burden of the body drags down the soul.
Vinoba Bhave

The river flows at its own sweet will, but the flood is bound in the two banks. If it were not thus bound, its freedom would be wasted.
Vinoba Bhave

There is no need for me to protest against the government's faults, it is against its good deeds that my protests are needed.
Vinoba Bhave

Though the names karma yoga and sannyasa are different, the truth at the heart of both is the same.
Vinoba Bhave

We cannot even recollect the actions of our infancy, our childhood is like something written on a slate and rubbed off.
Vinoba Bhave

We cannot fight new wars with old weapons.
Vinoba Bhave

We have seen from experience that, if we are in the habit of walking regularly on the same road, we are able to think about other things while walking, without paying attention to our steps.
Vinoba Bhave

We learnt how to separate the Self from the body, how to master the three gunas and in the end see God everywhere.
Vinoba Bhave

What we should aim at is the creation of people power, which is opposed to the power of violence and is different from the coercive power of state.
Vinoba Bhave

When a thing is true, there is no need to use any arguments to substantiate it.
Vinoba Bhave